AFTER - Poetry Destroys Silence

AFTER - Bringing The Dead Back To Life explores the creative duty of writers when confronted with catastrophe and genocide. Do they ignore these events, or do they use their creative talents to engage with the world? The featured actors and poets include Melissa Leo, who performs in a scene from the poem "Lost Photo." Leo is an Academy Award, Primetime Emmy, and Sundance Independent Spirit Award winner. Géza Röhrig, known for the Academy Award-winning film "Son of Saul" and currently starring as Jesus Christ in Terrence Malick's latest film, performs his own poem. The poets featured are MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellow Edward Hirsch, Pulitzer Prize-nominated and Cave Canem founder Cornelius Eady, multi-award winner Alicia Suskin Ostriker, a rare recording of iconic German-language poet Paul Celan, famed Israeli national poet Yehuda Amichai, an anonymous German poet whose identity is concealed due to Neo-Nazi death threats, National Endowment for the Arts recipient Sabrina Ora Mark, and acclaimed spoken-word poet Taylor Mali (HBO’s Def Poetry Jam). The project is directed and produced by Richard Kroehling, principal of Lumen Productions and a two-time Emmy Award winner, known for directing "Einstein: How I See the World" with William Hurt, "Confessions," "World Without End," and "Pittsburgh Homicide." His films have been featured at film festivals, on television networks, and in art museums globally.

The cinematography is by Lisa Rinzler, a Sundance Independent Spirit Award winner and Academy Award nominee for best feature cinematography, who has worked on over fifty feature films, including "Pope Francis: A Man of His Word," "Pollock," "Dead Presidents," "Buena Vista Social Club," and "Bob Dylan: No Direction Home," collaborating with directors like Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders. Director Richard Kroehling has directed over 70 hours of crime television and is a two-time Emmy winner. The production is by Janet R. Kirchheimer, an award-winning poet and daughter of survivors, with executive production by Oliver Mahrdt and casting by Eve Pomerance.

Richard Kroehling’s portfolio encompasses dramatic features, documentaries, crime television, and intimate profiles of some of the world’s most renowned thinkers, along with film and video art that aims to transcend traditional forms. He directed “Albert Einstein: How I See The World” featuring William Hurt for PBS American Masters and the feature film “World Without End” for England’s Film Four. As a two-time Emmy award winner, he has directed over fifty hours of crime docudramas for networks across the United States and Europe.

He created the controversial TV series “Confessions”, praised as “visionary and stunning”, which was later exhibited at the Palazzo della Triennale in Milan. His films and video art installations have been showcased at film festivals, on networks, and in art museums globally, including MOMA, The Jewish Museum in New York City, and Lars Von Trier’s Gesamt project at the Kunsthalle in Copenhagen. “Dollarland”, a multi-screen installation depicting an imaginary American city, is a collaboration with his long-time cinematographer Lisa Rinzler. “Dollarland” premiered at the Woodstock Artist Association Museum (WAAM) and was featured at Art Basel Miami in 2019. Richard Kroehling is set to direct his adaptation of Swedish playwright Lars Noren’s “War” in 2024. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New York Council on the Arts.